We were a bit late in planning our trip south this winter. The ability to take more than a week or two of vacation is new to us. Steve and I have a timeshare with Holiday Inn Vacation Club, so we looked for places available in the south for a couple weeks. We found availability at Canyon Lakes, in the Texas Hill Country, so we booked it without knowing much about the “Hill Country”. It wasn’t until we started doing more research that we found the Hill Country has a lot to offer – a large man-made lake: many small towns in the area with breweries, wineries, shopping, dining; and state parks with interesting natural features. Austin, New Braunfels/Gruene and San Antonio were all close enough for day trips.
One of the fun things about traveling is meeting people along the way. We met a lot of Midwesterners, as well as people from other parts of the country. I’ve noted some of those conversations below.
We drove from Minnesota, taking a couple days to reach Texas. We stopped to see friends, Leslie and Paul, in Des Moines then onto Wichita Kansas. There we had our first barbeque of the trip at Bite Me Barbeque in Old Town. It was good, but BBQ in Texas was the best. Travel day #2 we drove by the Oklahoma City National Memorial which commemorated the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995. We arrived in Fort Worth and spent some time in the stockyard area, watching the Longhorns run (or saunter) down the street. A highlight was meeting my cousin, Sue, and some of her family at Hard Eight Barbecue for dinner. It was great to catch up with Sue, and reminisce about their visits to Iowa and the fun times with the Lauritsen cousins out on the farm.
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| Mammoth Bones at Waco Mammoth National Site |
Day #3 we headed further south,
driving through Waco to Canyon Lake. Unfortunately, none of the Magnolia properties
are opened on Sundays. We drove through town – saw the Cottonland Castle that
Chip and Jo had renovated and met a couple from Edina whose daughter goes to
Baylor and their son went to Iowa State. Magnolia and the Silos area was fenced
and gated so we had to schedule another day to come back to Waco. We stopped at
Waco Mammoth National Site. For $5 ($6 non-seniors) we entered the dig site
where you can see the excavation of mammoth bones, as well as a camel and tortoise.
We love going to national parks, so it is always a highlight to see a national
site on our trips and get another stamp in my passport book!
The next 16 days were spent in Canyon City. The Hill Country of Texas is definitely hilly with winding roads, scrubby trees, large and small houses behind gates and fences, and friendly people everywhere we went.
Some of the highlights from our time in Texas:
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| Natural Bridge Caverns |
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| Canyon Lake Gorge |
State Parks and Natural Gems. Natural Bridge Caverns are north of San Antonio. The Discovery Tour included huge caverns, stalactites, stalagmites, ribbons, soda straws and crystal clear water. The tour guide was over-the-top dramatic, but it was a great tour. We also ran into friends from Gurnee, Mark and Rose, as we headed back to the visitor center after the tour! Jacobs Well Natural Area north of Wimberley features a spring flowing out of the second largest underground cave in Texas into a creek bed. In the summer, you can make an appointment to swim in the well. In Wimberly we hiked up 214 stone steps to the rocky top of Old Mount Baldy. It was a beautiful view of the countryside. We met a couple who had moved here from Denver and had just opened Rustix Ranch cabins. In Canyon Lake we hiked in a few areas – a nature hike along the Guadalupe River, Madrone Trail at Canyon Park (many of the parks were closed for the winter) and Canyon Lake Gorge. In 2022 34 inches of rain fell in the area, causing Canyon Lake to flood over the spillway. The historic flood sliced open the ground, creating the gorge and exposing ancient limestone, fossils and dinosaur footprints. It is a beautiful hike along the gorge.
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| Kitchen at Salt Lick BBQ |
The food. Terry Blacks Barbeque in Austin and Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood were highlights, especially the brisket. The wait for a table at Salt Lick at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon was 1.5 hours! However, we ordered food To Go and ate it on their large patio while listening to live music. Perfect! The Canyon Lake area had no chain restaurants which was refreshing so we tried the local restaurants. Granny D’s had excellent breakfasts with pancakes the size of a dinner plate. Baja Icehouse and Grill sat beside the lake and was perfect for a drink while watching the boats come in at the end of the day.
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| Devil's Backbone Tavern, the Oldest Dive Bar |
Dive Bars. A couple local bars stood out – the Devils Backbone Tavern that proclaimed itself the “Oldest Dive Bar in Texas”. A flea market was being held the day we stopped for a beer. Another fun place was the Damn Red Bar which offered free spaghetti dinners for their customers the day we were there. We had lunch at Goofy’s Bar and Grill which had decent sandwiches. Looking at their Facebook page as I’m writing this, they have square dancing, cornhole tournaments and dinner specials like pot roast!
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| Luckenbach TX Post Office & General Store |
More than just a dive bar is Luckenbach Texas. Luckily we stopped after our day in Fredericksburg and were so glad we did. Each year this town with a population of 3 (per the website) hosts over 300 music shows and events featuring Honky-Tonk, Rockabilly, Country and Blues. That afternoon a few men were playing on the outdoor stage under the majestic old oak trees. The town has a post office/general store, clothing and hat stores, and a great old dance hall. Here we met an Iowa Stater and his wife who now live in Pennsylvania.
Hill Country Wine Trail. There are more than 50 wineries in the Hill Country. Vicki and I did a tasting at Safari Winery. Texas doesn’t produce a lot of grapes, so Safari’s grapes came from South Africa and South America. We also had a red wine flight at Water 2 Wine in New Braunfels. The Hill Country would be a great girls trip destination to visit the many wineries and shop in cute gift and antique stores.
So many towns to visit in the Hill Country. I’ll touch on some of the towns we visited and what makes each one fun and interesting in my next blog. Until then I’m hoping for warmer spring weather!
